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The Fifth Estate
1976 - 2024 6.8 (10 votes) 16 Seasons
Official Website
Genres
Documentary News
Networks
CBC Television

The Fifth Estate

Overview

Each week the fifth estate brings in-depth investigations that matter to Canadians – delivering a dazzling parade of political leaders, controversial characters and ordinary people whose lives were touched by triumph or tragedy.

Top Cast

Bob McKeown

Host

Gillian Findlay

Host

Mark Kelley

Host

Seasons

Season 1 (1976)

No overview available.

1 episodes

Season 34 (2008)

No overview available.

18 episodes

Episodes
Episode 1: Disappearing Act
2008-10-01

He was just an ordinary guy who stole almost a million dollars.

Runtime: 60 min
Episode 2: Inside Room 22
2008-10-08

The latest episode in the long, strange and troubling story of ex-NHL player agent David Frost.

Runtime: 60 min
Episode 3: Shadows of Doubt
2008-10-15

On a rainy night in Kingston in October 2003, third-year Royal Military College cadet Joe Grozelle simply vanished.

Runtime: 60 min
Episode 4: The Girl in Saskatoon (Update)
2008-10-22

An old cold case is warming up.

Runtime: 60 min
Episode 5: After the Storm
2008-10-29

A story of love and murder in post-Katrina New Orleans.

Runtime: 60 min
Episode 6: Overboard (Update)
2008-11-05

Bob Gainey's long fight to reveal the truth about his daughter's death at sea.

Runtime: 60 min
Episode 7: The Gospel of Green
2008-11-12

Giving power to the people. Germany's green revolution and the man who's leading it.

Runtime: 60 min
Episode 9: Where the Women Went
2008-11-19

When faced with economic hardship, they turned to their most valuable export -- themselves.

Runtime: 60 min
Episode 10: The Chess Master
2008-12-03

Your backstage pass to political theatre.

Runtime: 60 min
Episode 11: A Death in the Family
2009-01-07

The price an entire family pays when one member is wrongfully convicted of murder.

Runtime: 60 min
Episode 12: Someone Got Away With Murder
2009-01-21

Runtime: 60 min
Episode 13: Strangers in Paradise
2009-01-28

What happens when someone's virtual fantasy takes over their real life.

Runtime: 60 min
Episode 14: Collateral Damage
2009-02-04

He was sentenced in the killing of four Mounties. But, his story has never been heard. Until now.

Runtime: 60 min
Episode 15: Powerless
2009-02-13

An Alberta teen addiction rehab centre and its controversial treatment methods.

Runtime: 60 min
Episode 16: Black Widow
2009-02-20

She preyed on the lonely, then married and buried them.

Runtime: 60 min
Episode 17: The Code
2009-02-27

Hockey's unwritten law of fighting and the men who live by it.

Runtime: 60 min
Episode 19: Staying Alive
2009-03-13

It's been called a "community centre for junkies".

Runtime: 60 min
Episode 20: The Elephant in the Room
2009-04-10

Runtime: 60 min
Season 35 (2009)

No overview available.

20 episodes

Episodes
Episode 1: Riding on Risk
2009-09-25

Disturbing allegations about our safety in the air.

Runtime: 60 min
Episode 2: The Education of Brian Nicholl
2009-10-02

Learning lessons about the economic downturn, the hard way.

Runtime: 60 min
Episode 3: Death Online
2009-10-09

A young Ottawa woman's suicide leads to an international hunt for an online predator.

Runtime: 60 min
Episode 4: The Fall and Rise of Theo Fleury
2009-10-16

He had it all and lost it. Now, Theo Fleury finally may have found himself.

Runtime: 60 min
Episode 5: Broken Heroes
2009-10-30

They went off to war like heroes and returned with invisible wounds.

Runtime: 60 min
Episode 6: Bus 1170
2009-11-06

When a bus ride home turned into a night of terror.

Runtime: 60 min
Episode 7: Over the Edge
2009-11-13

What happens when a small town thrill-seeker is lured into B.C.

Runtime: 60 min
Episode 8: The Unofficial Story
2009-11-27

Runtime: 60 min
Episode 9: Out of Control
2010-01-08

Ashley Smith was a troubled 19-year-old when she choked herself to death with a strip of cloth at Grand Valley Institution in Kitchener, Ontario. Her death made national headlines and led to a scathing report by Canada's federal prison ombudsman. Now, through exclusive access to prison video exposing Ashley's treatment in custody, the fifth estate shares the story of this young woman's harrowing life and the circumstances surrounding her death.

Runtime: 60 min
Episode 10: House of Cards
2010-01-15

The collapse of a financial giant and its Canadian connection.

Runtime: 60 min
Episode 11: Fasten Your Seatbelts
2010-01-29

Billions have been spent on airport security.

Runtime: 60 min
Episode 12: Earl Jones: In Trust
2010-02-05

Over two decades he bilked investors of $50 million.

Runtime: 60 min
Episode 13: 21st Century: War and Terrorism
2010-02-12

Part one of a three-part series: How the fifth estate covered the first decade of the 21st century.

Runtime: 60 min
Episode 14: 21st Century: The People
2010-02-19

Part two of a three-part series: How the fifth estate covered the first decade of the 21st century.

Runtime: 60 min
Episode 15: 21st Century: Law and Disorder
2010-02-26

Part three of a three-part series: How the fifth estate covered the first decade of the 21st century.

Runtime: 60 min
Episode 16: The Wrong Man
2010-03-05

A string of wrongful murder convictions... and the man who prosecuted them.

Runtime: 60 min
Episode 17: Cougar 491
2010-03-12

A helicopter ride to an oil rig, a crash and 17 deaths. New details about what may have caused it.

Runtime: 60 min
Episode 18: Hannah's Heart
2010-03-19

She's 13 and has a failing heart. Hannah Jones said "no" to the transplant that will save her life.

Runtime: 60 min
Episode 19: The Code
2010-03-26

Hockey's unwritten law of fighting and the men who live by it.

Runtime: 60 min
Episode 20: Larger Than Life
2010-04-09

He's rich, he's powerful, he's larger than life. But what kind of boss is Peter Nygard?

Runtime: 60 min
Season 36 (2010)

No overview available.

23 episodes

Episodes
Episode 1: Above Suspicion
2010-09-24

The shocking case of Colonel Russell Williams.

Runtime: 60 min
Episode 2: Betrayal
2010-10-01

Linden MacIntyre's personal essay on how the cycle of sexual abuse that plagued small communities in Nova Scotia years ago continues to haunt them today - in new and unexpected ways.

Runtime: 60 min
Episode 3: 'Til Death Do Us Part
2010-10-08

A story about love, death and a family searching for truth.

Runtime: 60 min
Episode 4: Enemies of the State
2010-10-15

The secret plan to detain thousands of Canadians.

Runtime: 60 min
Episode 5: The Confession
2010-10-22

In a special edition of the fifth estate, Bob McKeown decodes the shocking confession of Colonel Russell Williams. From his initial interview to the full declaration of guilt, the fifth estate deciphers one of the most compelling confessions in Canadian history.

Runtime: 60 min
Episode 6: The Fall and Rise of Theo Fleury (Update)
2010-10-29

With news that a Canada-wide arrest warrant has been issued for convicted sex offender and former junior hockey coach Graham James, the fifth estate presents an updated broadcast of The Fall and Rise of Theo Fleury, containing new details and footage. Originally broadcast in October 2009, Theo Fleury's candid and emotional conversation with host Bob McKeown marked the first time the star hockey player and current star of Battle of the Blades went on the record to talk about the dark secrets that haunted him during his glory years in the NHL and the staggering fall from grace that cost him millions of dollars, his family and almost, his life.

Runtime: 60 min
Episode 7: The Life and Death of Abdinasir Dirie
2010-11-05

Who really killed Abdinasir Dirie? One Somali family's story of tragedy and broken hopes.

Runtime: 60 min
Episode 8: Behind the Wall
2010-11-12

Abuse and cover-up behind our prison walls. Stories from the people who saw it everyday.

Runtime: 60 min
Episode 9: The Girl in the Suitcase
2010-11-19

More than a decade after the murder of Fatima Kama, a suspect is finally arrested.

Runtime: 60 min
Episode 10: The Legacy of Brendan Burke
2010-11-26

One hockey family's painful loss and the politics of gays in sports.

Runtime: 60 min
Episode 11: Presumed Dead
2010-12-03

Were they murdered? Abducted? Or are they living new lives. Tracking the trails of three Canadians who disappeared without a trace.

Runtime: 60 min
Episode 12: After the Earth Shook
2011-01-07

The personal toll of tragedy: Canadian stories of Haiti's earthquake.

Runtime: 60 min
Episode 13: Justice for Nadia
2011-01-14

Reporter Bob McKeown's investigation into Nadia Kajouji's tragic death led the fifth estate on an international hunt for an Internet predator. McKeown now returns to Nadia's story as an alleged "Cyberpath" is about to face justice in a precedent-setting case.

Runtime: 60 min
Episode 14: Death of the Don
2011-01-28

Who's killing the Rizzutos? The war against Canada's first crime family.

Runtime: 60 min
Episode 15: WikiRebels
2011-02-04

Inside the world of WikiLeaks: with unprecedented access.

Runtime: 60 min
Episode 16: Death at the Olympics
2011-02-11

It's a moment few Canadians will ever forget: the death of a 21-year-old Georgian luger during a Winter Olympics training run. It was ruled driver error. Now, we have shocking new revelations some don't want you to hear.

Runtime: 60 min
Episode 17: The Devil You Know
2011-02-18

Hate the crime, love the con.

Runtime: 60 min
Episode 18: You Should Have Stayed at Home
2011-02-25

The G20 from a different angle. Unforgettable footage, captured by ordinary people. The sights and sounds of powerful personal stories.

Runtime: 60 min
Episode 19: Colonel Gadhafi: Dying Days
2011-03-04

A dictator's final fight against his own demise.

Runtime: 60 min
Episode 20: Missing
2011-03-11

Locating the truth about Canadians lost to their families and friends.

Runtime: 60 min
Episode 21: Getting Off Easy
2011-03-18

White collar criminals waltz away from hard time.

Runtime: 60 min
Episode 22: My Friend the Bank Robber
2011-03-25

Bob McKeown traces the career of and his friendship with the always fascinating, charismatic and confounding Stephen Reid.

Runtime: 60 min
Episode 23: A Question of Innocence
2011-04-01

Linden MacIntyre examines how evidence can acquit as well as convict.

Runtime: 60 min
Season 37 (2011)

No overview available.

25 episodes

Episodes
Episode 1: Truth and Lies: The Last Days of Osama Bin Laden
2011-09-09

The fifth estate reveals new information that challenges the official story of the mission to shoot and kill the world's number one terrorist.

Runtime: 60 min
Episode 2: Swissair 111: The Untold Story
2011-09-16

Years later, the crash of Swissair 111 in 1998 remains one of Canada's greatest tragedies. Now new disturbing information from an insider who suspected it might have been murder, raising questions about the official cause of the disaster.

Runtime: 60 min
Episode 3: Gatti-vs-Gatti
2011-09-23

It began with what was supposed to be a second honeymoon, a chance for two tempestuous people -- the world boxing champion from Montreal and his beautiful Brazilian wife -- to heal their troubled marriage. It ended in Brazil with one of them dead and a question.

Runtime: 60 min
Episode 4: Mayday
2011-09-30

After a decade of disasters at sea, the fifth estate investigates Canada's troubled Search and Rescue fleet and hears from the survivors who lived to tell, and the insiders who tried to save what was once a organization admired around the world.

Runtime: 60 min
Episode 5: Colonel Gadhafi: Palace of Secrets
2011-10-07

Inside the brutal secret world of Moammar Gadhafi. As the Libyan dictator vows to fight on to the last bullet -- startling new information is emerging.

Runtime: 60 min
Episode 6: True Confession
2011-10-14

A family murdered, a son and his friend convicted, and the confession that could set them free.

Runtime: 60 min
Episode 7: Scout's Honour
2011-10-21

Diana Swain investigates sexual abuse in Scouts Canada.

Runtime: 60 min
Episode 8: 'Til Death Do Us Part (Update)
2011-10-28

How did an experienced hunter mistake her own husband for a bear -- and shoot him dead? Although acquitted, questions still remain.

Runtime: 60 min
Episode 9: Stories from the River's Edge
2011-11-04

Every fall, hundreds of teenagers from remote aboriginal reserves in Northern Ontario fly into the city of Thunder Bay looking to get a high school diploma. But in recent years, that struggle has been tainted by tragedy. Seven of those students have died sudden and unexpected deaths.

Runtime: 60 min
Episode 10: Murder, He Wrote
2011-11-18

An aspiring filmmaker working on an all too convincing screenplay about murder, turns fiction into fact by killing for real.

Runtime: 60 min
Episode 11: A Cold Case
2011-11-25

The chilling final chapter in the fifth estate's investigation into the true life mystery of how a Canadian hockey player, missing for fourteen years, ended up frozen in a glacier crevasse in Austria.

Runtime: 60 min
Episode 12: Holiday Hell
2011-12-02

Each year millions of Canadians set off on what they hope will be the vacation of a lifetime.

Runtime: 60 min
Episode 13: Behind the Line
2011-12-09

An investigation into sexual harassment allegations at the RCMP. The inside story of women who signed up to serve and protect and now claim Canada's pre-eminent police force failed to protect them.

Runtime: 60 min
Episode 14: Escape From Justice
2012-01-06

'the fifth estate' unveils a new chapter in the murder of Jassi Sidhu, with startling revelations about those who planned and paid for the killing, and how the murderers got away.

Runtime: 60 min
Episode 15: Diagnosis Murder
2012-01-13

the fifth estate investigates shaken baby syndrome. For decades, the diagnosis virtually guaranteed convictions, shattering the lives of thousands of parents, babysitters and families. Now new evidence questions whether the syndrome even exists and whether some of those convictions may have been wrong.

Runtime: 60 min
Episode 16: The Lies People Tell
2012-01-20

They are pathetic, weird and sometimes dangerous; 'the fifth estate' searches for the truth behind the lies told by some of Canada's most memorable and imaginative con artists.

Runtime: 60 min
Episode 17: Who's Killing The Rizzutos?
2012-01-27

Bob McKeown presents the latest chapter in the bloody war that has decimated Canada's first family of crime.

Runtime: 60 min
Episode 18: The Wreck of the Costa Concordia
2012-02-03

A minute-by-minute reconstruction of the Italian cruise ship disaster, with first-hand accounts from the survivors and the rescuers, along with the stories of those who perished.

Runtime: 60 min
Episode 19: The House of Shafia
2012-02-10

How the four women found murdered in a Kingston canal lived as virtual prisoners in their own home.

Runtime: 60 min
Episode 20: The Lost Boys
2012-02-17

The new chapter in the explosive allegations against Scouts Canada.

Runtime: 60 min
Episode 21: Fearless
2012-02-24

Are they chasing extremes dreams or are we pushing them over the edge? A look at the life and death of freeskier Sarah Burke and other top athletes who seek fame and fortune and risk life and limb to compete in high performance sport.

Runtime: 60 min
Episode 22: Fast Break
2012-03-02

Canadian kids and their parents risk everything to chase NBA dreams. Bob McKeown reveals the huge money -- and the scams -- at play for those trying to break into pro basketball.

Runtime: 60 min
Episode 23: Time Bomb
2012-03-09

The OxyContin epidemic: a pill that promises temporary relief has cost many Canadians a lifetime of addiction. the fifth estate investigates one of the most successful marketing campaigns in pharmaceutical history.

Runtime: 60 min
Episode 24: Lost on the Ice
2012-03-23

A boy lost on the ice, and how Canada's Search and Rescue service failed to bring him home.

Runtime: 60 min
Episode 25: Kidnapped
2012-04-06

the fifth estate recreates a real-life kidnapping minute-by-tension-filled-minute and lets viewers decide what to do to catch the perpetrators each step of the way.

Runtime: 60 min
Season 38 (2012)

No overview available.

23 episodes

Episodes
Episode 1: Into The Death Zone
2012-09-14

It was May 19, 2012 and a young and determined Canadian was proudly standing on top of the world after an agonizingly slow climb up Mount Everest. Shriya Shah-Klorfine had reached the summit. But in the hours that followed, things would go dreadfully wrong and she would perish, like hundreds before her, high up in Everest's "Death Zone." Since Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay's first ascent of Everest almost 60 years ago, it has been an irresistible fascination for aspiring mountaineers. Hundreds make the attempt every year, and many don't make it. This year was no exception as hundreds made their way to the summit even as worrying signs pointed to trouble. Among them was Shriya Shah-Klorfine, the cheerful and energetic Torontonian. She had never climbed a mountain before, and despite warnings from her friends, husband, and seasoned Everest sherpas, she was climbing the world's highest peak, determined to succeed.

Runtime: 60 min
Episode 2: Kingston Pen: Secrets and Lies
2012-09-21

As the nearly 180-year-old Kingston Penitentiary that has housed some of Canada's most notorious inmates prepares to close its gates for good, Linden MacIntyre weaves together the stories of three of its most famous inmates. "Kingston Pen: Secrets and Lies" is the story of convicts trapped in a cycle of violence, of miscarriages of justice, and psychopaths of incredible charm.

Runtime: 60 min
Episode 3: Runaway Fighter
2012-09-28

Exclusive new revelations about the troubled F-35 program It could yet prove to be the most expensive defense purchase in Canadian history -- $25 billion and counting. The military promises it's the best fighter jet available, but some critics are saying it's a turkey hatched from a bad idea: a do-it-all plane that might not do anything well-at-all. Was Canada pressured to buy the F-35 fighter jet? Will the jet ever deliver on its promise of being the top gun in the sky? Did the government cover up the true costs to win an election? With secret documents and exclusive interviews with Air Force insiders, Gillian Findlay pieces together the troubling story of the F-35. From Lockheed Martin's first prototype and bungled development process to Canada's decision to buy the fighter jet without an open competition, "Runaway Fighter" raises serious questions about a procurement system seemingly run amok and a jetfighter critics say will never live up to its spin.

Runtime: 60 min
Episode 4: The Widow's Web
2012-10-05

Family members say she preyed on the lonely, then married and buried them. Now the so-called Black Widow has been charged with attempted murder after the the suspicious sudden illness of another husband. Linden MacIntyre first spoke to Melissa Friedrich when she was in jail in Florida, and then again on the phone last year after she moved back to Nova Scotia.

Runtime: 60 min
Episode 5: The Life and Death of Gloria Taylor
2012-10-12

Diagnosed with ALS, one woman's public fight to meet death on her own terms. Gloria Taylor was the first Canadian ever to win the right to ask a doctor for help in dying, when and how and where she wished. "The Life and Death of Gloria Taylor" documents her struggle with mortality as she fights publicly to change the law over the course of what would be the last year of her life. Doomed by ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease), Gloria Taylor became dependent on medical technology. Her fight for life was futile, and she could only hope for what she called a dignified ending. the fifth estate's Linden MacIntyre first met her more than a year ago as she battled with a disease that has no cure, and had just begun another struggle in British Columbia's Supreme Court to have the right to decide the time and manner of her death. She agreed to let the fifth estate follow her throughout that struggle, the private highs and lows, and the personal indignities throughout the final year of her life.

Runtime: 60 min
Episode 6: Whistleblowers: Moment of Truth
2012-10-19

They have the courage to stand up and speak out when no one else dares, yet the popular perception of whistleblowers is they are doomed to be victims of reprisals. But when the fifth estate caught up with some of its more memorable whistleblowers, we found out their lives can take twists and turns no one ever expected. These cases offer an ironic insight into what was supposed to be a new era of transparency and integrity in Canada. To date, not a single case has been prosecuted under Canada's Public Servant Disclosure Protection Act, and the Public Sector Integrity Commissioner was dismissed in disgrace. It was the late '90s when the fifth estate first caught up with Drs. Shiv Chopra and Margaret Haydon. The two Health Canada scientists had serious concerns about a new synthetic drug that promised to transform dairy farming by increasing milk production in cows.

Runtime: 60 min
Episode 7: Lost In The Struggle: The Next Chapter
2012-10-26

The journey of three young men born into one world. Six years later, they're trying to escape into another.

Runtime: 60 min
Episode 8: Lucky 7
2012-11-02

Linden MacIntyre reveals for the first time the extraordinary tale of how seven ordinary guys suddenly struck it rich -- to the tune of $12.5 million.

Runtime: 60 min
Episode 9: The Elephant in the Room
2012-11-09

In the trade they call elephants Charismatic Mega Fauna -- huge majestic animals that help the industry draw millions of people each year. The fact is that Zoos and Aquariums are big business, generating more revenue than all professional sports leagues in the U.S. and Canada combined, according to industry insiders. Yet all is not well with the gentle giants in Canadian zoos. A heated controversy has erupted over what to do with zoo elephants when they are ready to retire.

Runtime: 60 min
Episode 10: Left for Dead
2012-11-16

Mark Kelley tells the story of two friends on the adventure of a lifetime in a small plane who crashed into the icy waters of the Canadian North.

Runtime: 60 min
Episode 11: Lance Armstrong: Master of Spin
2012-11-23

Lance Armstrong was an inspiration to millions - he overcame a deadly disease and was hailed as one of the world's greatest athletes - but insiders knew the truth. the fifth estate examines the widespread use and abuse of doping in international cycling and how Lance Armstrong kept this dark secret for years.

Runtime: 60 min
Episode 12: Hunting Magnotta
2012-11-30

Mark Kelley reveals the story of a secret group of online investigators who tracked accused killer Luka Magnotta for almost two years and warned police he was dangerous and had to be stopped.

Runtime: 60 min
Episode 13: Costa Concordia: The Captain's Tale
2012-12-07

On January 13, 2012, the Costa Concordia set sail onto the Mediterranean with captain Francesco Schettino manning the ship and more than 4000 people on board. But within hours, disaster would strike as the cruise liner crashed into rocks on the coast of Italy. In one of the worst cruise disasters in recent memory, 32 people would die, and the 114,000 tonne vessel would take more than two years to dismantle.

Runtime: 60 min
Episode 14: The Imperfect Spy
2013-01-11

Canadian naval intelligence officer Jeffrey Delisle and his secret life as a Russian Spy. Linden MacIntyre has an exclusive interview, and tells the full story of the biggest security breach in Canadian history.

Runtime: 60 min
Episode 15: The Last Race
2013-01-18

Nik Zoricic was one of the fastest members of the Canadian ski cross team and had dreams of representing Canada in the 2014 Sochi Olympics. His promising career was tragically cut short when he crashed near the end of a World Cup race high in the Swiss Alps last year, in what course officials termed a freak accident. But as Mark Kelley learns, the first death in ski cross competition history may not have been so unpredictable. In the days leading up to that last race athletes raised alarms warning that the final jump was exceedingly dangerous and that race organizers were pushing the limits and didn't heed the early warning flags.

Runtime: 60 min
Episode 17: Target Bin Laden
2013-02-01

The true story of how the CIA tracked the world's most wanted terrorist.

Runtime: 60 min
Episode 18: Crossfire
2013-02-08

The tragic shooting of 20 children and six teachers at an elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut stunned people on both sides of the border. Somehow it seemed worse than other recent mass shootings - perhaps because of the age of the children, or the popular military-style assault rifle used, the AR-15. Many hoped it would be a chance to find common ground in a nation bitterly divided over gun rights and gun control. Instead, the sales of firearms soared and the National Rifle Association's membership swelled.

Runtime: 60 min
Episode 19: The Unrepentant
2013-02-22

They are marked by their ability to kill without passion and without remorse. Some are called psychopaths - a term that evokes nightmare images of murderers and monsters. But the label can also apply to men and women who are successful, intelligent, charismatic, charming and amusing - and so all the more dangerous. This week on the fifth estate, Linden MacIntyre looks at what makes a psychopath through the fifth estate's close encounters with of four of Canada's most frightening criminals.

Runtime: 60 min
Episode 20: The Vanishing
2013-03-01

For Anna Ratté, growing up just outside Prince George, British Columbia was an idyllic childhood. But on August 18, 1997, that family was torn apart when Wendy Ratté suddenly vanished. Days and then months passed, with no word from her mother. Seventeen-year-old Anna Ratté began a long, difficult search for answers. It was years before Anna began to suspect that her father Denis was not telling her everything he knew.

Runtime: 60 min
Episode 21: Second Wave
2013-03-08

Two years ago, thousands of lives were lost and the landscape of Japan was changed forever by a tsunami that saw more than five million tonnes of debris swallowed up by the ocean. Mark Kelley reports on the Second Wave tsunami headed for Canadian shores, and a remarkable human drama that links our country with Japan.

Runtime: 60 min
Episode 22: Ironman
2013-03-29

He's been called a geo-vigilante, an eco-terrorist, or alternatively a visionary who simply wants to save the world. For years, American businessman Russ George has nurtured a controversial idea: to fix global warming by seeding the ocean with iron. Thumbing his nose at U.N. conventions and possibly Canadian law, George teamed up with a Haida village on B.C.'s West Coast and carried out the biggest iron fertilization project to date.

Runtime: 60 min
Episode 23: Mission Improbable
2013-04-05

Cynthia Vanier had seemingly hit the big time in business, politics and international intrigue, working with Canada's largest engineering firm, SNC Lavalin, to protect billions of dollars worth of projects in Libya. That work led her to cross paths with one of the world's most notorious family names -- Gadhafi. But as events unfolded, she became a part of a fiasco so complex that she'll likely never fully understand it, nor recover from its impact on her life. On this week's the fifth estate, Linden MacIntyre tells the story of Cynthia Vanier and how she claims she was duped into a risky mission in Libya, and is now spending her days in a shabby prison in southern Mexico fighting allegations of terrorism, human trafficking and criminal conspiracy.

Runtime: 60 min
Episode 24: Rate My Hospital
2013-04-12

Bob McKeown hosts the fifth estate's sweeping cross-country investigation into Canada's hospitals and what they don't want you to know.

Runtime: 60 min
Season 39 (2013)

No overview available.

19 episodes

Episodes
Episode 1: The Secrets of Sugar
2013-10-04

We’ve heard for years about the dangers of eating too much fat or salt. But there have never been recommended limits for sugar on Canadian food labels, despite emerging research that suggests the sweet stuff may be making more of us fat and sick. Has the sugar industry been hiding an unsavoury truth from consumers?

Runtime: 60 min
Episode 2: Made in Bangladesh
2013-10-11

A lot of our clothes bear the label ‘Made in Bangladesh’. But before the deadly collapse of a garment factory there last April, most of us never thought about the people who make them. After clothes bound for Canada were found in the rubble of Rana Plaza, Canadian companies reacted with surprise - how could such a tragedy happen?

Runtime: 60 min
Episode 3: The Murder and the Money Trail
2013-10-18

When a body was found in a roadside ditch outside Mexico City, it seemed like just another murder – one of tens of thousands of violent killings in that country each year. But the victim was in fact the hard-working mother of two and the branch manager for Canadian-owned Scotiabank. The death of Maru Oropesa revealed the risks that Canadian banks and their employees face in one of the most corrupt countries in the world. From one murder in Mexico, Bob McKeown follows the money trail to secret accounts in Switzerland, and into the underworld of Mexican money laundering.

Runtime: 60 min
Episode 4: Elephants on Board: A Journey to Remember
2013-10-25

How do you move three enormous elephants 4000 kilometres? Very very carefully and bring lots of hay.... When the fifth estate joined the convoy taking 3 Canadian elephants overland to the PAWS sanctuary in California it was bound to be an incredible journey filled with tension, drama and unpredictability. The good news for Toka, Thika and Iringa is that the long battle over their welfare appears to have a very happy ending.

Runtime: 60 min
Episode 5: The Strange World of Julian Assange
2013-11-01

The controversial WikiLeaks founder gets the Hollywood treatment in the new movie 'The Fifth Estate' but the real fifth estate on CBC-TV tracks the inside story of the man in his own words, his secrets and his scandals. How did he get started, what was the global impact of his whistle-blowing website and what cost have whistle-blowers paid for leaking secrets? The rise and fall of Julian Assange - not the Hollywood fiction, the real fifth estate story.

Runtime: 60 min
Episode 6: The Rob Ford Story
2013-11-08

Crack cocaine. Alcohol. Friends who have criminal backgrounds. Just over a year ago, Toronto Mayor Rob Ford stood next to Police Chief Bill Blair promising to fight gang crime. Now the two most powerful men in Canada's largest city are locked in a struggle only one is likely to survive. Gillian Findlay has more on the man who has become the world's most controversial mayor - and the real story behind that first notorious video.

Runtime: 60 min
Episode 7: The Sextortion of Amanda Todd
2015-11-15

A year after her death, most people remember Amanda Todd from her YouTube video, holding up hand-written pages describing how one mistake in front of a webcam led to her torment by bullies at school and online. But beyond that viral video, the fifth estate reveals a more complex and disturbing story about what happened to the B.C. teenager driven to suicide in October 2012 – not just bullying, but the deliberate sexual extortion of a 15-year-old girl by online predators.

Runtime: 60 min
Episode 8: The Conspiracy Files: JFK and 9/11
2013-11-22

Whether it's the assassination of JFK or the events of 9/11, when national tragedies occur they trigger painful soul-searching. In both cases a national consensus emerged over time about the single gunman who shot JFK… and the reasons the towers collapsed on 9/11. But some still question the so-called ‘official version’ of history. They passionately believe in other – often radical – explanations. And they think there might be conspiracies to hide the real truth.

Runtime: 60 min
Episode 9: The Last Great Escape
2013-11-29

North Korea is among the world's most mysterious and secretive countries. The little we know comes from desperate souls who risk everything escaping overland in search of a new life. Many are captured in China and sent back home to an uncertain future. But a few somehow manage to make it all the way to Canada.

Runtime: 60 min
Episode 10: Silence of the Labs
2014-01-10

Scientists across the country are expressing growing alarm that federal cutbacks to research programs monitoring areas that range from climate change and ocean habitats to public health will deprive Canadians of crucial information. In the past five years the federal government has dismissed more than 2,000 scientists, and hundreds of programs and world-renowned research facilities have lost their funding.

Runtime: 60 min
Episode 11: The Man Who Hears Voices
2014-01-17

An unprecedented view into the life of Jeffrey Arenburg. He was found not criminally responsible on account of mental disorder for the death of Ottawa TV sportscaster Brian Smith in 1995 and is now fuelling debate around the issue of what happens to these offenders once they are released.

Runtime: 60 min
Episode 12: Walk the Line
2014-01-22

The night of September 14th, 2013 north of Montreal, police set off on a manhunt for notorious Hells Angels hitman Rene “Balloune” Charlebois who had escaped from his minimum security prison earlier that evening. When police tracked him to a remote chalet just under two weeks later, they found Charlebois’ body after an apparent suicide. A third party provided Quebec’s provincial police with Charlebois’ final words: a series of audiotapes that he asked be made public if anything were to happen to him. The tapes feature conversations, which, if proven authentic, will bring down one of Quebec’s most respected biker cops and rock the Montreal Police force.

Runtime: 60 min
Episode 13: Voyage of the Black Dragon
2014-01-31

It was a desperate gamble – more than 130 Chinese migrants spent months in squalid conditions below the deck of an old fishing boat, risking their lives for a chance for a better life in America. But those dreams were defeated when the crew of the ‘Black Dragon’ left them stranded on a remote island off the coast of British Columbia in 1999.

Runtime: 60 min
Episode 14: Rabbi of the Pure Hearts: Inside Lev Tahor
2014-02-28

Life in the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community of Lev Tahor is supposed to be simple: the rules for dress, diet, schooling, marriage and worship are clearly defined and closely followed. But last November, in the middle of the night, about 200 members of the sect fled their homes in Quebec to start a new community in Chatham, Ontario, amid allegations of child neglect. Now the sect is fighting to keep more than a dozen children that a Quebec court ordered removed from their families. Their ongoing legal battles are raising an old dilemma: when does a group’s right to religious freedom get trumped by society’s obligation to protect children?

Runtime: 60 min
Episode 15: The Rise and Fall of Mike Duffy
2014-03-07

Even as a youngster growing up in Prince Edward Island, he had ambitions to make it big on Parliament Hill. Eventually, Mike Duffy’s knack for talking politics on radio and TV brought him close to the seat of power in Ottawa, until as a newsman he seemed as famous as the people he covered. Now the disgraced Conservative Senator has become the embodiment of what many Canadians see as a wasteful institution, and a lightning rod for those who want the Senate abolished.

Runtime: 60 min
Episode 16: Return to Paradise
2014-03-14

As many young Canadians head off for spring break holidays, do they face unexpected and potentially lethal dangers – in their hotel rooms? When two Canadian sisters turned up dead in a Thailand hotel in 2012, authorities suggested everything from drugs to food poisoning. But an updated investigation by the fifth estate points to new evidence that a highly toxic pesticide used in holiday hotels in Asia to control bedbugs may have caused their deaths. And host Linden MacIntyre digs into the mystery of two other young tourists who died suddenly while travelling in Vietnam.

Runtime: 60 min
Episode 17: Dead Enough
2014-03-21

It’s a question you might think medical science would have answered long ago – when are you dead? But in “Dead Enough” the fifth estate explores how the standards for when and how people are declared dead can vary from province to province and even from hospital to hospital. Host Bob McKeown looks at how, in the rush to meet the need for life-saving organ transplants, some doctors are worried that we may be pushing the ethical boundaries.

Runtime: 60 min
Episode 18: Your Tips, Our Stories
2014-03-28

This season, the fifth estate was flooded with tips from viewers, asking our team to investigate stories important to you. We listened, we did our research, and now we have three stories built on your suggestions. Bob McKeown uncovers the disturbing past of a man who promised love to at least ten women across Canada, but delivered only deception. Mark Kelley follows up on a viewer’s request to investigate the mysterious death of a young blind woman in Halifax, and learns that a key witness in the police investigation has changed his story. And we went looking for the worst case of small town corruption, and found one - south of the border, in Dixon, Illinois.

Runtime: 60 min
Episode 19: After the Cameras Went Away
2014-04-11

Even after a story airs on television, the fifth estate does not stop investigating. Mark Kelley checks in with a survivor of the collapse of a garment factory in Bangladesh and Bob McKeown finds out how the Toronto Zoo elephants are adapting to sunny California.

Runtime: 60 min
Season 50 (2024)

THE FIFTH ESTATE brings audiences Canada's top investigative stories. From across the country and around the world, Fifth Estate journalists dig deeper to get to the stories that matter

14 episodes

Episodes
Episode 1: Dawson Creek: We Want Our Town Back Season
2024-10-11

A viewer tip leads to Dawson Creek, B.C., where residents feel ignored during a crime wave.

Runtime: N/A min
Episode 2: Road to Ruin
2024-10-18

Canadian animation pioneer Daniel Langlois was known for films like the Matrix and Jurassic Park. When the millionaire and his partner were killed in Dominica last December, it exposed a web that extends into politics and corruption.

Runtime: N/A min
Episode 3: Stronach: Power and Silence
2024-10-25

Billionaire Frank Stronach stands charged with 18 counts of sex crimes; the Fifth Estate has found further claims from the last several years Mark Kelley takes the allegations directly to Stronach.

Runtime: N/A min
Episode 4: The Election and the War
2024-11-01

Donors and political action committees could use the war in Gaza to influence the U.S. election

Runtime: N/A min
Episode 5: Conspiracy in Coutts
2024-11-15

A judge has ruled that two protesters involved in convoy blockade in Coutts Alta, where willing

Runtime: N/A min
Episode 6: Cracked: Crimes Behind Encryption
2024-11-22

Vancouver’s Sky ECC promised confidentiality to customers with its encrypted cellphones, which were a hit with criminals but also the target of an international police sting. The investigation that brought thousands of criminals, and Sky, down.

Runtime: N/A min
Episode 7: Episode 7
2024-11-29

Runtime: 43 min
Episode 9: Pet Care Inc.
2025-01-24

The cost of owning a pet has skyrocketed as big business moves into vet care.

Runtime: N/A min
Episode 10: The Shadow War on Libraries
2025-02-07

Now more and more libraries find themselves on the front lines of a culture war, with battles over books, bans and the freedom to read. The attacks on libraries started in the U.S. and, like a slow-burning brushfire, they've been moving north, the flames fanned by pressure groups who feel libraries should not have books about sex education, gender identity or stories

Runtime: N/A min
Episode 11: Inside Job: The airport gold heist
2025-02-14

It was a sensational heist — $20 million in gold stolen from Canada’s busiest airport. On a chase that spans the globe — from India to Dubai to rural Pennsylvania, we make surprising discoveries about the gold, guns and the suspects still at large.

Runtime: N/A min
Episode 12: The second term project 2025
2025-02-28

Donald Trump's tariff war has people on both sides of the U.S.-Canada border in a panic. From behind the scenes of inauguration day to the oil fields of Alberta — is there a plan behind the chaos? Project 2025 provides the blueprint.

Runtime: N/A min
Episode 13: Tax Hack: Identity Theft
2025-03-07

“Tens of thousands of taxpayer accounts hacked as CRA repeatedly paid out millions in bogus refunds”

Runtime: N/A min
Episode 14: A Sister's Promise
2025-03-14

“A Sister’s Promise,” documents Meggie’s journey as she hits the streets of east London searching for tips in her sister’s case. We’re there as the 62-year-old woman tracks down people of interest and grills them about what they know about Sonya’s death.

Runtime: N/A min
Episode 15: Trapped: The Online Terror Network
2025-03-21

This week is The Fifth Estate’s second investigation into 764, a satanic neo-Nazi network targeting vulnerable kids online and forcing them to harm their pets, themselves and others — and even take their own lives.

Runtime: N/A min

Videos

the fifth estate: Fast Break (Preview) | CBC

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